ELEMENTARY VIRTUE: The Savior

by Sonja Wuthrich

  Fireworks and herbalism with Aiden and Mila

  Gregory took the subway to his encounter with Aiden. He put on his headphones and dipped briefly in his favorite music from Articolo31: Domani Smetto - which meant Tomorrow I’ll stop. “The question was what he would stop doing? Anyway, he immediately felt better whenever he was listening to the music of this band, no matter what was going on in his life. Meanwhile, he had reached the Starbucks on Main Street. He was surprised to find Aiden sitting at the bar together with Mila. Both of them had a huge Frappuccino in front of them. He ordered some coffee, since he had seen Greyson and Leyla together. The yearning for sweet stuff had disappeared temporarily. In fact, he'd rather have ordered a grappa, which was an Italian liquor, but that was out of question in Canada unless you were over 21. He sat down beside Aiden and threw his backpack on the floor. Aiden nodded but didn’t say anything. There was an awkward silence. Gregory cleared his throat, “I thought it would be better if no one saw us together. So what is she doing here?” he pointed at Mila.

  She raised a hand and pulled noisily at her straw. Aiden shrugged indifferently, “She belongs to me. You better get used to her being here. You probably know her, as she is in your class.”

  "Sure, I know her. She is the loner that hangs out with Natalie. That still does not explain what she's doing here. Is she your girlfriend?”

  Mila looked at him through half-closed eyes and sipped her Frappuccino.

  Aiden laughed, “She belongs to my clan. She's an Akando.”

  For the first time, Gregory noted the tattoo on Mila’s upper arm. He hadn't noticed it before. She wore a black tank top and some cargo pants with a camouflage pattern. Her tattoo was a circle with a leaf in it.

  “Then she must be the master over some flowerpots?”

  He smiled at her mockingly. There was no reaction from Mila; she didn’t even bother looking at him, still making slurping noises with her straw. Gregory was slowly getting nervous. First Leyla and Greyson, and now these two. He shouldn’t have listened to Leyla. He deliberately turned around and wanting to leave when Aiden grabbed his arm with a firm grip holding him back.

  “You're not exactly the patient type, are you?”

  He put a couple of bucks on the counter and nodded towards Mila. She grabbed her shoulder bag, which was in the same camouflage colors as her trousers and she headed to the exit. Gregory felt like being part of a military exercise and it was not a very good feeling.

  Aiden got up and followed her. Gregory had no choice than to join them. Without a word, they strolled in front of him and turned into the next side street. Aiden took out his keys from his backpack and unlocked a Black Mustang which was parked on the other side of the road.

  “Get in,” he said to Gregory and Mila.

  She climbed into the backseat and Gregory sat in front beside Aiden. As soon as the engine roared, deafening rock music played from the stereo. Conversation at that point was impossible because of the noise. They drove silently. Gregory looked in the rearview mirror. He looked kind of scary. His nose was still huge and the bruises had become purple spreading to his cheekbone. His hair looked like he had been in a storm and he had dark circles under his eyes.

  Aiden looked more than ever like some kind of a punk. His spiked hair, the black muscle shirt and for the first time, Gregory realized that he had somehow darker features. His skin was olive and there was something wild about him. He must have Indian-American ancestors. There was no doubt about that. Gregory crossed Mila’s glance in the rearview mirror. She turned a strand of her hair between her fingers, watching him. He quickly looked away. They drove through an area where many rich people seemed to be living in this part of the city. The houses looked expensive with well-maintained gardens. They were about two subway stops from Main Street as Aiden turned into a driveway and drove through an iron gate into a huge park-like setting. At the end of the driveway was a large villa-style house. He stopped the car with squealing tires and parked it in front of the house. Somehow, neither Aiden nor Mila seemed to fit in this area.

  They got out of the car and Aiden stepped between Gregory and Mila and put his arms on their shoulders and drew them along with him.

  “I think the coast is clear. My old man has flown to the Bahamas with his last conquest and we can practice undisturbed.”

  Gregory looked at him questioningly, “Do you mean that your parents are not around?”

  Aiden shook his head with a sullen smirk on his face, “It means that my new stepmother is about my age. No, wait a minute, I think she is already 21 because I've seen her being wasted a lot lately. Last night, she has probably confused me with my old man when she made a pass on me.”

  Gregory did his best not to show how shocked he was. Aiden seemed to come from a badly broken family even if Aiden’s family was apparently very wealthy. Maybe this was the reason why Aiden seemed to be so callous most of the time. He was disillusioned and disappointed with his father.

  “Where is your mother?” he asked him warily.

  “My mother is dead and he is to blame for her death.”

  Aiden’s voice was full of repressed anger. Gregory admired Aiden for his self-control. He would have burned down the whole place with his untamed anger. Mila strolled over to them explaining.

  “Aiden's mom was half Indian and she fell for the wrong guy. This happens a lot in our circles. She got in trouble with the mafia and now she's dead."

  Gregory had to think of his own mother, whom he had never known.

  “She was a healer, just like me,” Mila continued, “as I am not ruler of flower pots, as you have believed in your ignorance. My element is the earth”

  She pulled out a small bottle with a bright green liquid from her shoulder bag and gave it to Gregory.

  “Drink up,” she ordered, “It might burn a little, but you’re a strong warrior.”

  He shook his head, “Why should I drink this stuff?” Mila looked at him pityingly, “Oh the great warrior is afraid that the ruler of flower pots could poison him.”

  She made​​him angry and he drank the whole vial in one single gulp. He would show her that he was no coward. It burned like fire. He held a hand to his burning throat.

  “What the hell did you give me, you crazy woman? Do you want to kill me, or what?"

  “That might be not such a bad idea after all,” she eyed him with a dirty look on her face.

  “Oh and you really are totally charming and sweet, just like Natalie said. This is a mixture of dried Lavender powder, grated mountain crystal and salicis cortex or the so called Willow bark.”

  Gregory groaned.

  “You’re losing me there. So you were not trying to kill me after all?”

  She walked away, completely ignoring him muttering beneath her breath.

  ”Ungrateful idiot.”

  All of a sudden, Gregory noticed that his face did no longer hurt. She handed him a pocket mirror from her bag and it was incredible; the swelling had completely disappeared and the bruises were gone. He looked almost back to normal again.

  “How did you do that?” he gasped astonished.

  “That’s just like magic,” she smiled confidently. “Oh, that was one of my easiest exercises. As already mentioned earlier, I'm a healer.”

  Gregory was too stunned to make some clever statement in response to this.

  "Where is Aiden?” he asked.

  “Oh don’t worry, he sinks into some kind of misery each time he comes here and his father is out of town. Then he sits close to the former power place of his mother. It always takes a while until he calms down and comes around eventually.”

  “Why isn’t he living here?"

  "No, he and his father don’t get along since Aiden’s mother died. He blames his father for her death, and that his father married Jaqueline, a bimbo who is almost his age and not really helping to improve the situation.”

  She laughed disdainfully, “His father is a bigwig in politics, and he is currently a candidat
e for the office of the mayor. He was originally a lawyer and rumors say he has some skeletons in his closet. Others say he has connections to the Sicilian Mafia,” she added.

  "Whatever the case, Aiden hates his father more than anything else.”

  They went into the house and Gregory noticed the nameplate on the door. So far, he had never thought about Aiden's last name. Grande was a common name in Italy and there were many immigrants who had settled in America. Still, he had overheard a conversation of his stepparents about a corrupt judge Grande and it probably had been no coincidence. They entered the interior of the luxurious house built in a southern European style. Everything was white, from the high ceilings and pillars with arches that lined the living room to the gallery. They crossed the spacious living room, which adjoined an open kitchen and looked like out of a glossy magazine for architecture. Unfortunately, the warmth was missing entirely inside the house. It all seemed cold, almost sterile.

  They stepped out onto the porch, dominated by a large kidney shaped pool. Aiden was sitting on the other side of the pool on the ground with crossed legs, his gaze fixed on a stone circle of different sized stones. In the center of the circle, there were several purple flowers. Mila told Gregory that this had been Aiden's mother's former place of power as her element had been earth. The purple flowers were her favorite. Aiden heard them coming and turned around; he seemed to have calmed down by now.

  "Let’s start then folks,” he said, “we have much work ahead of us. Because you are new with the elements, it will take some time and there will be much to do, Gregory. What about your birth blanket? Have you ever seen it?”

  Gregory hesitated before answering, he thought about what Leyla had told him. What should he do? Aiden took his hesitation as denial and pointed to the purple flowers.

  “My mother was a healer, like Mila, and she always said that these flowers provided her with energy. They are called Echinacea Purpurea - cone flower - and they have a strong effect on the immune system. My mother knew about other properties. Unfortunately, this knowledge died with her and Mila is trying to follow in her footsteps,” she nodded

  ”Yes, that’s true, but only concerning the elements not for my love life. I’m gonna have to be careful not to end up with a bad guy like she did. No offense Aiden,” she said.

  Aiden shrugged obviously in thoughts, “None taken, you are perfectly right about that.” He looked somehow sad and hurt. He seemed to have taken off his callous mask today as he was revealing his inner self so openly. His cool grim mask was completely gone. Gregory glimpsed at him and he just couldn't help it, but he had to tell him the truth. He sat down beside him, putting a hand on his arm.

  “I have to tell you something Aiden.”

  Then he told him everything he knew, which unfortunately wasn’t that much at all. He told him about his dead mother and that he didn't even know her name, about the blanket with the four elements in which he had been found, and of his outbursts that had made his life in Italy a living hell. He also told him about the storm he had triggered when he was angry. He did not spare any detail that he could think of. When he finally ended with his tale, both Aiden and Mila stared at him completely stunned. He just hoped that he had not made a mistake, Gregory thought helplessly. A brief moment of absolute silence and Gregory was becoming worried. If he just had kept his mouth shut and had listened to Leyla.

  He wasn’t able to stand the silence any longer.

  “Folks, you scare the shit out of me. Why don’t you say anything, it can't be that bad!”

  To his surprise, Aiden started laughing and Mila smiled amazed.

  "Come on, what is so funny about my dumb story?”

  Gregory was desperate.

  Aiden gestured him to sit down beside him saying.

  “I can't believe it. We always thought that the story of Vishu was only a legend. Leyla has already implied something like that to me, but I didn't think that it would be possible.”

  He turned to his knees and stared at Gregory with his almost black eyes, and then he hugged him fiercely. Gregory lost balance and fell backwards into the pool. He surfaced completely out of breath.

  Aiden reached to pull him out of the water.

  “I'm sorry. I didn’t want to be so intense; it just came over me. It is so incredible.”

  He pulled him out of the water.

  “It is your life task to lead us against the corrupt Akandos like my father. That‘s the prediction.”

  Gregory was wet to the bone. He shook his head and the water splashed in all directions.

  “What are you talking about? I have no clue what you mean and how on earth should I do such a thing?”

  Aiden grinned at him, “Don't worry dude, we’ll figure it out. Come on, we have to find some dry clothes for you to wear.”

  Mila stood blandly by the pool beaming in awe at Gregory.

  Oops, he thought. The two of them seemed to have turned into his fan club all of a sudden, somehow a scary thought.

  He followed Aiden into the house. With every step, there was a squeaking sound from his wet clothes when he walked. He left a water swath through the entire living room.

  Gregory felt pretty stupid in the spare clothes Aiden had given him. He looked like a punk. The black T-Shirt was at least two sizes small. Without a doubt, it belonged to his juvenile stepmother. On his chest, it read Parental Advisory and on the back, there were some information about an occult sexual practice. It was skin tight and much too short. It ended just above his navel. The tattered jeans were huge and belonged probably to Aiden’s father. They fit that loose on his hips. He got the feeling they would drop at the slightest movement at any time. Unfortunately, he had not found a belt. His only hope was that no one saw him like that. Aiden had thrown his clothes in the dryer, so there was still some hope that he did not have to head home in this outfit. Even their dog Rogan would have giggled if he had seen him like that. Maybe Rogan wouldn’t even recognize him and bite him on the spot. He would rather avoid to be seen dressed like that at all. With a bit of luck, his shoes dried quickly in the sun.

  He went back to Aiden and Mila who were still sitting at the pool and dangled their feet in the water. When Gregory came strolling along in his outfit, Mila laughed.

  “My God you look boiling hot,” Aiden said.

  “Yes, I think my stepmother wears the shirt to seduce my father.”

  Gregory was not amused, “And who is the proud owner of these trousers?” he dragged at the jeans.

  “Are they your grandpas?”

  "Nope, those are my old man’s”

  "Well, isn’t that just great,” Gregory said, unenthused.

  “Ok guys, can we now start with the training and can someone explain me how I can help you once I have that stuff under control?”

  "Everything in time” Aiden said wisely.

  He seemed quite relaxed, contrary to Gregory.

  “Come and join us, we will start with the fire because this is my element. Mila will help you with the earth and we must figure out the rest later. Today we are glad that you are here and that there is hope again”

  Gregory sat down carefully between the two of them and rolled the wide jeans up to his knees.

  Gregory turned to Aiden, “Now tell me what I should do and why it is so important to you. I need to know, otherwise I endanger others, and myself as I currently seem to be quite a pyromaniac type of guy. Before I start practicing with you guys, I would appreciate if you told me what exactly is wrong with me, if I should be of any help.” Aiden nodded, “That sounds only fair to me.”

  Mila stared at him in awe. Since she had heard that he was able to deal with all of the four elements, she hadn’t been the same again. Her behavior towards him had changed completely, which was an odd feeling.

  Aiden took a breath and started to explain.

  “First of all, you need to know that our clan, I mean all of the Onendas are basically peaceful. We use our skills only in a good sense - to help huma
nity, and never for selfish purposes. The tribe has existed for several hundred years and there are various clans. We are descendants of the shamans and are living mainly in southern Italy, and Canada. Actually, our roots are in Canada, but during dark and troubled times, some young girls have been deported to Europe. To be specific, to southern Italy and Sicily. It could be that some of them might have gone there voluntarily; nobody really knows that. That’s how the so-called Akando section of our clan ascends. The girls got married to South Italians or Sicilians. The Akandos came from mixed marriages by Onenda women and natives. This means all Onendas that come originally from Europe are Akandos. This makes you an Akando too Gregory. You have to understand that most of the Akandos have always behaved completely normal. Unfortunately, there is a split-off. They call themselves the Black Vultures and are similar to the Mafia. They have their own laws within the official law. Their crimes include everything from simple theft, fraudulent manipulations, and drugs onto abhorrent slave trade. They also act as troublemakers, instigate in conflicts and plots whenever they get a chance. Worst of all, they abuse their powers to collect protection money by black mailing. They don’t stop at anything and are greedy for power and money. They are powerful and some of them are even represented in the government. There are a few corrupt cops, even in our city. They are everywhere and if we don’t do something, soon we don’t know whom to trust anymore. That’s why we must stop them. That’s where you get in the game Gregory. Here in Canada, there are two clans, one here in Toronto and the other one in Vancouver. Most of them are, as I said, inconspicuous and are afraid of the Mafia sympathizers. The bad guys are fortunately still in the minority. Most of them want to live in peace, but unfortunately, there are many families with black sheep amongst them. In an ancient legend, a so-called prediction says that there will come a time when a boy is born.”